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Lishe Grow
A woman planting in a Kenyan field.

Turning what's thrown away into what communities need.

A Kenyan foundation working with schools, households, and women's cohorts — composting waste into food security and household income.

Nairobi, Kenya

What we do

We turn organic waste into compost, compost into gardens, and gardens into food and incomethen train the next group to do the same.

The Lishe Grow Project is one connected system, working across Kibera and Kenyan counties since 2020. Each part supports the next, so the work keeps growing after a season ends.

Since 2020

Six years of real results.

What the work has added up to across Kibera, partner schools, and women's cohorts.

17+
Tons of organic waste diverted Composted since 2020
10,000+
Kilograms of food harvested Gardens, plots & demo farm
100+
Women trained & supported Growing, composting, business skills
2,400+
Students reached Partner schools & 4K Clubs

More than 1.3 million nutritious meals supported since 2020.

The work

Four kinds of work, one loop.

01

Composting

School and household hubs turn organic waste into the compost the gardens run on.

02

Gardens

Climate-smart school and household gardens that keep producing through dry seasons.

03

Women's livelihoods

Cohorts trained in growing and selling — each group goes on to train the next.

04

Partnerships

Partnerships that carry the model further and bring expertise and funding back in.

How it works

One cohort becomes many.

The project is built to multiply. Knowledge moves from one trained group to the next, so a single season of work keeps growing long after it ends.

01

Train

A first cohort learns composting, climate-smart growing, and the basics of selling a surplus.

02

Grow

Hubs and gardens go in. Waste becomes compost; compost becomes food on the table.

03

Cascade

The first cohort trains the second. Skills pass person to person, not top-down.

04

Sustain

4K Clubs in schools keep the model alive across years and new groups of learners.

Numbers tell you whether the work happened. The gardens tell you whether it mattered.
S. M. Founder, Lishe Grow Foundation

Work with us

Help us grow what's already working.

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